He Figured He Was Happy
by LauraDragon
Summary: Mortimer C-137 remembered the explosion. He remembered the agonizing pain in his right eye. He remembered longing for the pain to just… stop. For everything to just… stop. But it didn't. This is a tale of suffering, yes. But it is also a tale of redemption, of happiness, and also of Eyepatch Morty, in case the eye references escaped you. The site's screwing with my formatting sorry
1. Chapter 1

_Hi so I just had my heart ripped out by binge-watching all the Rick and Morty episodes available so I figured I'd make a fix-it fic. This is just a fix-it for one of the many... MANY fucked up things in those universes, and this isn't even the fixing part yet. I'm currently writing this at around 2 in the morning and I have school... later on today I guess. But, that's not the point. The point is that I had an idea and I needed to get it down on my computer before I forgot._

 _If you've read this far in the Author's Note, I commend you. I don't own Rick and Morty. Trust me. MANY things would be different if I did._

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Mortimer C-137 remembered the explosion. He remembered the agonizing pain in his right eye. He remembered longing for the pain to just… stop. For everything to just… stop. But it didn't.

Looking back on it, he has absolutely no idea how he survived. A miracle, maybe. He didn't believe in miracles.

There was one "miracle" he was thankful for, however. His Rick fucked up. Majorly. Perhaps he had been sober when he built the explosive. Instead of destroying the entire planet like he had intended to, he only managed to put out Mortimer's eye and… well actually most of him. But. That could be fixed. It could be improved, even. He just needed the right… parts.

He didn't know if his Rick had survived. He didn't know whether he wanted him to have done so. He figured probably not. It was hard to tell, these days.

Speaking of days, how long had he been in this godforsaken DESERT, anyway. Without Rick's ship, he had to walk the long way back to his family's house. The wind blew sand in his hastily stitched up wounds, and he was pretty sure his eye was permanently sealed shut with dry blood. He was… uncomfortable, to say the least.

As he limped along, he thought.

He thought of so many things.

He thought of his parents, so infuriating with their fights over the obviously failing marriage. They were probably worried sick. He didn't care.

He thought of Summer, his bitch of a sister. He tried to recall a single instance where she had been kind to him. His mind came up empty. Still, she was most likely worried as well. He didn't particularly care.

He thought of Jessica, her pretty eyes, pretty hair, pretty figure. Pretty. That's it. She probably didn't care. Huh. They finally had one thing in common.

He thought of everything he could think of, and nothing at all.

Most of all, though, he thought about Rick. The more he thought about him, the more furious he became. The more furious he became, the more he thought about him. He wished with all his furious might that the old man had survived the blast.

After all, if he hadn't, how would Mortimer be able to kill the bastard himself?

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 _So in case all the references to eyes flew right over your head and scored ten points, this about Eyepatch Morty. Well, Eyepatch Morty's backstory, with a little something extra mixed in because I can't stand reading angst without a happy ending, and I certainly can't write it. So yes. If this doesn't become yet another abandoned fic of mine, I think this'll be pretty cool. What do you guys think, though?_

 _-Rawrs, Lauradragon_


	2. Chapter 2

_Fuck the multiverse, to be honest. I apologize for everything I'm gonna screw up in this chapter (guess who's writing at 2 in the fucking morning agaaaain.) Since I know next to nothing about the universe-lore-bullcrap of Rick and Morty, I'm just going to be making things up as I go along. I don't think anybody really knows what the hell is going on with this show, not even the owners, of which I am not one._

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At the Smith house, all was chaos. Jerry was sobbing, Summer was barely keeping it together herself, and Beth… Beth was majorly drunk. She was drunk, because the other option was breaking down like her husband. She didn't want to be anything like her husband.

The police had come, and the police had left. She thanked her drunky- no- lucky stars that she had managed to stay sober long enough to answer their questions. Her little boy was gone. Who knew where he was? Well, her bastard of a dad probably knew, but it was most likely his fault, seeing as he was gone as well.

They had gone on adventures before, her father and her child, but they had never lasted this long. And there was something else that seemed off about this particular absence…

For days before they had disappeared, Rick had seemed… sullen. Well, more sullen than usual. He was unusually snappish, even for him, but she had also seen traces of a deep sadness in his eyes, always quickly covered up. She knew her dad wasn't right in the head, to say the least, but this… this was different. Very different. She was worried, and angry, and so very scared.

If she got her hands on him... no. She'd forgive him. Like always. In the end, it wouldn't really matter what he had done. She knew, she KNEW her relationship with her father was pretty much the antithesis of healthy. There was a spectrum, she liked to think. It spanned from a normal, healthy relationship on one end, to an unhealthy, toxic one on the other. However, her relationship with Rick completely ignored the limits of the "normal people" spectrum. It didn't even come anywhere close.

Her dad had always threatened to leave, and she had always done almost anything to make him stay. She didn't know why she didn't just let him. Her family would be better off if he was gone. Her little Morty would still be in school, trying to be the straight A student she knew he could be. She and Jerry wouldn't fight half as much, Summer wouldn't feel shut out, and shut her out in return… But… Much as she was sometimes embarrassed and downright angry to admit it, Rick was still family.

Clawing her way out of her thoughts and off the floor, Beth stumbled out of the kitchen with the vague idea that she would go console the members of her family which were not currently missing. Before she had gone more than a few steps, however, there was a knock at the door. Figuring the police had come back for more questions, she straightened her posture and tried to make herself look a little bit less like the mess she was. The empty wineglass was forgotten in her hand.

"Yes? Officer?" She looked out the eyehole at the place where she figured a policeman's head would be. There was nothing. Frowning, she opened the door. Her eyes widened, and the glass fell from suddenly boneless fingers. It shattered on the step. Beth, however, only had eyes for the boy standing in front of her.

He was almost unrecognizable, at first, with dried blood caked over the entire right half of his body. She would know those clothes anywhere, though. Her little boy had come back. Her little baby.

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As Mortimer looked up at the woman he called his mother, all he felt was tiredness. She didn't know half of what he'd been through. The only person who knew what it was like other than Mortimer himself was… **HIM**. **HE** not only KNEW, **HE** was the source of the night terrors, the paranoia, the anxiety, EVERYTHING was **HIS** FAULT. The boy shoved his anger down as Beth- his mother dropped to her knees and threw her arms around him, sobbing. It would do no good to snap at her. It would only cause her to cry more, and that would be rather inconvenient. His shirt was getting wet.

He felt a little twinge of emotion stirring as he was clasped tighter against her chest, but ruthlessly suppressed it. Feelings were a liability. **HE** had taught him that. If you cared about anyone, you were weak. That's why **HE** was so strong, after all.

Looking around her shoulder at the family room, he saw the other people in the house staring at him. He absentmindedly brought his own arms up to wrap around his mother, and that seemed to break the other members of his family out of their stupors. They rushed towards him, and he flinched back, wrenching himself from his mother's grasp.

They looked heartbroken as he stood there, trembling, ready to bolt. "Morty?" His sister, Summer said quietly.

"D- don- don't call m- me that." He said, rubbing his hands up and down his arms. That was what **HE** had called him.

"Morty, we need to get you to-" His mother started reaching for him again. He shoved her hand away angrily.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT." He exploded. They all jumped backwards. A fresh wave of tears flooded down his mother's face. His sister tripped and landed on her back with a hard thump. Jerry… Jerry crumpled down to the floor and started sobbing again, snot and all. "My name i- is Mortimer. Y- y- you of all people should kno- ow. You named me." He jerked his chin at his mother contemptuously.

She composed herself as best she could, nodding. "Okay. Yeah. Yes. But, Mortimer, Mortimer you need to go to a hospital, honey. You're covered in blood and... and… and who knows what else." He sighed, as if he didn't know that. It crackled when he walked. It would be kind of hard to miss.

"Okay mo- mom." He sighed. Ugh. Emotions.

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 _I'm uh, not quite as sure about this chapter. It feels kinda disjointed, I dunno. It's also short, but I write as I get inspiration so... Also, it's been a while since I've actually committed to writing a multi-chapter fic, so I'm out of practice. I would welcome a beta reader for this, if anyone's interested. I would also like to remind you all that this is going to get even worse before it gets better. Have fun with that._

 _-Rawrs, Lauradragon_


	3. Chapter 3

_I'm BACK IN BUSINESS. Sorta. Motivation is a li'l bit iffy right now but I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL FINISH THIS. Actually, I shouldn't say that. I'll try my hardest to finish this. I still don't own Rick or Morty, or Rick and Morty._

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About a week later, Mortimer greatly regretted letting his family bring him to a hospital. It was falsely bright and cheery, and the food was, quite frankly, not food at all, but an abomination allowed to escape from an underground bunker only to die on the street. That is the only possible explanation for it. Most definitely. For a place that was supposed to help you get healthy, the things they fed you sure sucked.

Even worse than the food, however, was the sympathy. He was constantly cooed over and pitied, the bulky hospital eyepatch seeming to evoke a subconscious emotional reaction from everyone who saw it. Mortimer didn't need sympathy. He needed, as cliché as it sounded, revenge. His eye being taken from him was only the tip of the iceberg. For years before that, **HE** had been putting Mortimer's family and Mortimer himself in grave danger. He couldn't even remember when he had last had a night of uninterrupted sleep. The most common state for Mortimer to wake up in was either in tears, screaming, or both.

He was sure that **HE** had no such problems. If anything, Mortimer figured that bastard probably enjoyed the emotional torment he put his family through. Well, **HE** would get his comeuppance soon enough. Mortimer would make damn sure of that. He just needed a plan… Well, that and to get out of this awful hospital.

At least all the tests were done. THAT had been an… endeavor. He had had a hard time refraining from snapping at the nurses and doctors. He was FINE. He just wanted to sleep. Well, that and to plot vengeance. That, however, wasn't really the kind of thing that the nurses wanted to hear. They wanted yes or no answers to questions like "Does it hurt when I press here?" He lied, of course, so they'd leave him alone. He was SO CLOSE to being free.

Closer than he thought, apparently. A doctor came in and told him, albeit reluctantly, that he was free to go see his family and leave. He had been kept separate from them for the duration of the tests, so as not to further upset their already fragile mental state. He snorted mentally, tuning the doctor out as she gave him a stern reminder to return in another two weeks, in addition to giving him a list of things to do and not to do. He didn't plan on adhering to it, so why bother? Revenge was a very rigorous activity, after all.

As she finished up her spiel, he told the doctor politely that he understood. She smiled at him, and although there was still a glint of suspicion in her eyes, he was allowed to walk out of the dismal hospital room to find his almost certainly still hysteric parents and sister. Although he didn't particularly want to face them at all, he recognized the necessity of playing nice, for now. And, even though he would never admit it, even to himself, he did still love his family, despite their neglect and their part in his current situation.

His musings carried him through the white walls of the hospital and he stopped just short of the entrance into the waiting room, steeling himself. He could hear his mother shouting from here. It was horrifying. He almost felt bad for the poor nurse who had to listen to his mother scream hysterically about wanting to see her "baby boy." However, he had experienced the scream-crying many more times than that man would ever have to in the entirety of his life, so Mortimer couldn't bring himself to feel _too_ much pity for him.

Plucking up his courage, he opened the door. "Hello mo- mother, father, Summer." He nodded at each of them formally as he said their names. Summer looked slightly suspicious at the change of behavior that hadn't disappeared in the week he spent at the hospital.

"Morty.. mer. Bro. Good to have you back." She came over and stood in front of him. She raised her hand to put it on his shoulder, but he tensed up, and the hand went back down. He wasn't blind to the hurt badly hidden in her eyes, he just didn't particularly care. He didn't want to be touched right now, and she would have to respect that.

His mother and father had no such reservations about touching, however, as he was pulled into yet another rib crushing hug. He rolled his eyes at his sister, who hid a smile as the nurse had had enough of being ignored and forcibly inserted himself between Mortimer and his parents. "That's enough of that for now, sorry ma'am, sir." He didn't look particularly apologetic, Mortimer noticed with amusement.

"I will hug my son all I damn well please!" His mother started shouting. Again. The nurse remained unimpressed and unfazed. Jerry looked terrified, however. Jerry almost always looked terrified. Another eye roll, and another snicker from Summer.

"If you continue like this, you'll just cause more damage to your son. I'm afraid that's _quite unacceptable_." The nurse's smile was so _friendly_ Mortimer was reluctantly impressed, and slightly alarmed as to the fate of his parents. He did still need them, after all. Summer whistled quietly, and he elbowed her in the side. She elbowed him back, but not quite as hard as she might have otherwise. Mortimer definitely _did not smile_ at that.

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After the ordeal of the hospital, Mortimer would have been more than happy to just go home and lie in his bed surfing the web for hours on end, but unfortunately, he had a _lot_ of work to do before he could even begin to consider relaxing. When they arrived at the house, he endured _yet another_ round of tearful hugging before he could escape to the basement to begin tinkering. Summer seemed oddly reluctant to let him go down into the basement alone, and he briefly considered asking her to leave him alone.

As he considered it more, however, he discovered that he didn't particularly fancy the idea of being alone in **his** old workspace. It held too many bad memories. All of those memories were bad, actually, now that he thought about it. It would be nice to have someone else there to fill the silence. And pass him tools. And get him food. Brilliant. He could use his lost eye and still tender wounds as an excuse to garner even more willingness to do things for him. He could deal with pity if it got him food. Especially those fucking COOKIES.

"Earth to Mortimer, come in please." His sister was waving a hand in front of his face. He batted it out of the air, annoyed. "You were drooling. Sure we don't need to get you checked back into the hospital? Maybe the mental ward this time?"

"Fuck you." He said, amicably flipping her the bird as she hopped down the hatch in front of him. Faint laughter echoed up from below, and things were okay. He couldn't wait for the other shoe to drop.

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 _So uh. It's been a while. Hi I'm not dead. Yet. Really long plane rides do wonders for your motivation, huh? I'd forgotten how fucking HARD it is to finish stories? Like? I don't think I'm even half way through yet. HOO BOY this is going to be a bit of a bitch. I wish there was something witty to say here but I'm depressed as fuck and my humor is a bit borked right now. Did you hear the joke about the deaf dude, though? No? He didn't either._

 _Second fucking update because I have no idea why I didn't post this? What the shit? My only possible excuse is that school started up again and I got a cold but there was a possibility that it's Mono wait you guys probably don't care lmao._

 _-Rawrs, Lauradragon_


	4. Chapter 4

_Well hello again! I'm starting the author's note now in the hopes that I might actually get this done in a timely manner instead of waiting for months, but to be honest I doubt it. Also side note about the show, MY BABY IS PRESIDENT I'M SO PROUD. I don't own him, much as I might like to._

 _Edit, because I'm an unmotivated idiot, that last person who reviewed, you the real MVP, because you reminded me that hey! Some people actually do read my stories and I probably shouldn't just ignore them for months on end because I have a spot of depression, and I should just suck it up and write. Tl;dr, thanks._

 _Edit 2, I swear to all the gods that if this fucking hellsite messes up my formatting ONE MORE FUCKING TIME..._

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"Hey, uh, Su- Summer, pass me that screwdriver, would you?"

"Sure bro, but, what exactly are you trying to build here? It kinda looks like-"

"A portal gun. Yes. I know- ow it looks like a portal gun. That's because- because it i- i- it is one, Summer. Duh."

"Are you sure you know what you're doing? Don't you wanna do it how Grandpa Rick does it? Mort… imer? What's wrong?" Mortimer had given a full-body shudder at the mention of his grandfather's name.

"Are you sure you w- wa- want to know the answer to that?"

"I probably should want to, but seeing how you reacted, I've miraculously changed my mind. Don't tell me."

"Then don't ask. And to answer your previous question, yes. I know exactly what I'm doing. For the most part. Probably."

"Summer laughed at that, and Mortimer turned away to hide his smirk. He liked this other, nicer Summer. If only she were like this all the time. He could almost get used to it. Almost. She would learn not to mention Rick. They would all learn. It would be so easy just to stay here and continue on and have a normal life. Beth had sworn off drinking, Summer had warmed up to him, and Jerry… well Jerry hadn't really changed much. He was still pretty pathetic. It would be so easy… except it wouldn't be.

Much as Mortimer hated to give **HIM** any recognition, the man had changed his life. He needed to know… needed to see for himself if the man had survived. To do that, he needed to leave. To leave, he needed to make a portal gun. To make a portal gun, he needed to convince Summer that he wouldn't be leaving without her (a complete lie, of course) While he didn't particularly care for either of his parents, there was no way he would put Summer in danger. She may be a bitch sometimes, but she was still his only sister.) Normally, convincing Summer to do ANYTHING was a nearly impossible task, but he had a few tricks up his yellow sleeve.

"H- hey Summer?" Time to start Plan A. (Yes, there was a Plan Z. It involved an elephant though, so he'd rather not use it.)

"Yeah Mort?" He sighed at the nickname. Well, at least it was better than Morty.

"My uh, my eye is acting up a bit. Can you go g- gr- rab my med- eds? They're so- omewhere in the bathroom." They weren't, actually. He had them in his pocket. He just needed some time to prepare, and to get her out of the way. He felt slightly guilty using his injuries to manipulate her, but hey, his eye was acting up, so it wasn't a complete lie.

"Sure bro. I'll be right back. Try not to do anything dumb while I'm gone." He snickered.

"You kn- know me Summer. Al- lways the pinnacle of la- lab safety." Summer scaled the ladder and opened the hatch, looking down at him once more. He gave her an encouraging smile, and the hatch slammed shut behind her.

Immediately, the smile slid off his face, as he slowly raised his hand to hover over his eyepatch. He clenched his fist, and turned to the table, spying the completed portal gun that he had found just after he returned from the hospital. Time to get to work.

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Summer growled in frustration as she searched through the medicine cabinet, yet AGAIN. Why were med bottles so hard to find? It was ridiculous! Much as she would hate to do it, she'd have to have Morty – MORTIMER, she reminded herself – come upstairs with her and show her where they were. Mind made up, she turned on her heel and strode back towards the lab.

As she reached the top of the stairs, she heard the telltale sound of a portal being opened, and all the blood drained from her face. She leapt down the stairs three at a time and flung open the hatch. She dropped directly onto the concrete floor of the lab, forgoing the ladder entirely. Her ankle collapsed from under her, but she ignored the white-hot flash of pain as she rolled to her feet, eyes scanning the lab desperately for a sign of her brother.

She found none. None except… a small white piece of paper slowly fluttered to the ground, and she snatched it up quickly.

 _"Hey sis. I know you're probably gonna be pissed at me for a while, but I think you'll live. I'm not too sure about Dad, though. He's a wimp. I know I'm asking a lot of you, but could you try to take care of them for me? After all, if I'm being honest, we probably won't see each other again for a long time, maybe forever._

 _I have to go after him, sis. You may not understand, but I need to find him. I need to know if he survived the explosion. Knowing him, he probably did. I'm sick of him USING me, Summer. If he's alive… well… I won't burden you with that._

 _Please don't follow me. Seriously. I don't want you to get hurt. He hurts people, Summer. Rick hurts a lot of people. I'm not gonna let him do it anymore. You and Mom and Dad will be safe, and maybe, once he's out of the picture, I can come home? I'll even let you get a free punch in when I get back, okay?_

 _-Love you, (but don't tell anyone I said that) Mortimer"_

A tear dripped onto the paper, blurring the words. It was quickly followed by another, and then another. Summer crumpled to the ground, clutching the paper in trembling hands. She cried to the empty basement for hours, disregarding her running makeup and blotchy face. Her brother was GONE, AGAIN, and this time he wouldn't be coming back.

Time passed, and as her tears stopped, the anger came. How DARE he leave her behind again? How DARE he? She may not be winning any awards for "Best Sister in the World" anytime soon, but how DARE he think she would be content to stay behind while her little brother ran around the multiverse with no protection.

"Take care of Mom and Dad? To be frank, she didn't think there was any way she COULD. They were a lost cause! Her brother, on the other hand? She could still save him. She could, and she would. She clenched her fists, unknowingly mirroring the pose her little brother had taken just a few hours ago in that same spot. Time to get to work, again.

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 _So uh. This went somewhere unexpected. Hey, at least I updated, and I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing where I go from here. I'll probably have to rewatch the series to refresh my memory, but I have a vague (very vague) idea of what I'm doing, so I should be fine for a while yet._

 _Reviews temporarily fight off the depression and make it easier to update, so if you want to see where this goes as much as I do, please help. It makes me happy to see what you guys think!_

 _-Rawrs, Lauradragon_


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